Let the ProMaster bashing begin, except this guy quote below from "psychoboy"
As for the huge wheel wells ,Think real real hard and no they are not for bigger
tires.
"Quote" I measured the axle's clearance on the 1500 down the street at 7.5"....so it's 1 inch lower than the bottom of the sprinter pumpkin. not enough to matter to nearly anyone.
the oil pan is just over 9" from the ground, the exhaust downtube is about 8.5"...same clearance as our 2500 sprinter
remember guys....this is a cargo/delivery van. not a off road vehicle, not a rock crawler. they wanted a low floor and dependable weight capacity....this is how you get a low floor and good weight capacity. look at every non-big rig flat bed trailer, boat trailer, or camper trailer on the road. this van is little more than an engine with a seat and a box trailer welded to it.
there are probably very good reasons to not want a promaster, having unfounded concerns about that does not exist are not those reasons.
These vans, in this configuration, are old in europe by this point. if the ground clearances were an issue, i'm sure the motorways over there would be littered in wheel-less metal boxes.
as for the K-car reference.....K-cars had coil sprung trailing beams, this is a leaf sprung drop axle. aside from them both being un-powered live axles (ie: not IRS)..they don't have much in common.
on the other hand, it's a vehicle with a McPherson front and a non-IRS rear......just like almost every FWD car built by an american car company in the 80s and early 90s. "unquote"
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